Having noted why Southern Californians should be especially frustrated about the government shutdown, let’s point out a reason for residents of the Golden State to feel better.

This is one state that’s trying to do something about an underlying cause of conservative Republicans’ stubborn refusal to give up the fight against Obamacare.

A rising number of members of House’s GOP majority represent districts that are set up to be “safe seats,” virtually guaranteeing re-election for Republicans as long as they leave no room for more conservative candidates to challenge them in party primaries.

Safe seats for Republicans or Democrats can bring out the worst — or at least the most stridently partisan behavior — in their holders. Which is why California voters have taken steps to make safe seats more competitive and otherwise encourage moderation in our state legislators and congressional representatives.

In recent years, California voters approved ballot initiatives creating “top-two,” cross-party primaries; an independent commission to draw district lines, something politicians used to do themselves; and revised term limits.

As Thomas D. Elias, a regular on our pages, pointed out recently, those reforms seemed to pay off in more compromise in Sacramento in the last legislative session.

It’s harder to tell if the top-two primaries and less-gerrymandered districts have improved the behavior of California’s congressional reps, but that’s to be hoped.

It’s not hard to see that other states could benefit from similar efforts to encourage moderation among highly partisan Republicans and Democrats. Most, of course, don’t have the ballot initiative system that California has, which allowed voters here to tackle a political problem that is causing trouble for the rest of the nation as we speak.